News

Mix: Jobsnote, Creative Xmod, Q4 Results, Japanapster

By Jeremy Horwitz ● Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, California. As always, the keynote is scheduled for the morning before the show floor opens to the public, on January 9, 2007.

Creative Labs has announced Xmod, its first audio accessory to be touted via press release as iPod-compatible. Xmod claims to enhance compressed digital music to higher-than-CD-quality audio with “virtual surround sound,” but is primarily geared towards PC and Mac users; it requires a power adapter to be connected when used with portable devices such as the iPod.

Fourth-quarter and full fiscal year 2006 financial results will be released by Apple Computer on October 18, 2006, according to a report by Macworld U.K. Based on trends in iPod and Macintosh sales, the results are expected to be highly favorable.

Backed by Tower Records Japan, Napster today announced Napster Japan, a Japan-only version of its struggling music download service. Napster Japan will offer subscription-based access to a 1.5-million song catalog for the equivalent of slightly under $17 per month. The company is targeting 1 million subscribers by the end of March, 2007.

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Comments

1

C’mon, Jeremy. I realize you’re quoting from Creative’s press release, but can’t you editorialize just a wee bit about a claim this ridiculous?

So lets get this straight… you take music off a CD, throw away 90% of the data, and all it takes is this magic accessory to extrapolate not only that missing 90%, but also the data lost going from masters to CD?

Posted by atreyu in East Amherst, NY, USA on October 3, 2006 at 3:43 PM (CDT)

1

If you’re not doing so well already is branching out the best idea?

Posted by rainking187 in East Amherst, NY, USA on October 3, 2006 at 4:21 PM (CDT)

1

Atreyu: We don’t generally editorialize in the news section. The key word here is “claims.”

Posted by Jeremy Horwitz in East Amherst, NY, USA on October 3, 2006 at 7:53 PM (CDT)

1

What no comments about Steve Jobs being announced as the keynote speaker?

Surely this certainly means he will annouce the iPhone, 6G iPod and an intergalactic spaceship!!!

Posted by robroe in East Amherst, NY, USA on October 4, 2006 at 4:24 AM (CDT)

1

As an audiophile the MP3s I make are better then the live sound by the band. I don’t need Creative’s magic box as I make my own magic. Now believe that and there’s some dry swampland in Florida I’d would like to sell you.

Posted by Johhny in East Amherst, NY, USA on October 4, 2006 at 10:15 AM (CDT)

1

Right said atreyu ... I visited the created xmod page and there is bar graph that shows that they can x-fi your mp3s to sound better that studio quality sound ... wow thats really creative ... ‘am fainting…

Posted by Ravi in East Amherst, NY, USA on October 4, 2006 at 4:18 PM (CDT)

1

@#1
Have you ever heard about sound processors that expand dynamics and selectively EQ sound depending on the contents? They are broadly used in remastering. I can’t see anything wrong with an attempt to give these enhancements to regular people. 128 bit compressed mp3, even if purchased via iTunes, are not exactly top notch. Try Crystallizer in the demo and then pass your judgement. I am sceptical, generally, but this thing seem to work, at least in the demo, so fingers crossed…

Posted by andreas in East Amherst, NY, USA on October 4, 2006 at 5:49 PM (CDT)